Drowning
by messersmontana
Summary: For Cassie, on her birthday. This is also a challenge that she gave to us. Don and Jess are at Sullivan's and a song on the juke box brings their first dance. This is not part of my series, but a one shot, for Cassie.


Drowning

By messersmontana

For Cassie, on her birthday.

This is also a challenge that she gave to us.

Don and Jess are at Sullivan's and a song on the juke box brings their first dance.

This is not part of my series, but a one shot, for Cassie.

We all know that I don't own CSI NY or the characters, cause if I did, we would have had a better season finale. One where we cried for joy, not sadness. Jess lives on forever in fanfic.

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Jess was sitting in Sullivan's nursing her beer, waiting for her partner to show up so she could vent about their latest case. This was something that they'd done almost from the beginning and even after they became partners. If she had a problem working a case, she vented to him, and if he had problems, he vented to her.

Today had been a hard day and she wasn't so much in the venting mood, but she just wanted to forget about the case they just closed. She had wanted to shoot the scumbag jerk who tried to kill his pregnant wife. She almost did shoot him when he tried to backhand Jess, if it weren't for Don, she might have. He had thrown the guy up against the car and hand cuffed him, getting him into the back seat of the police car before Jess could do anything to him.

Don walked in at that moment and she smiled, as she watched him look for her. She didn't know why he always scanned the room looking for her, the team always sat at the same table, and when it was the two of them, they sat there too.

She watched Don walk over to their table. "What took you so long?" She asked him.

"Danny wanted me to come by and see what he did to the nursery. He can't wait until Lindsay gets back from Montana to see what he did. I never thought I'd see Danny so excited about becoming a father. It's been good for him, and Lindsay too." He told her as he joined her.

The bartender came over with his beer, and he took a long drink from it before he sighed. Jess laughed at him. "I thought I was the one who was going to vent tonight, but you look like you need to vent." She told him.

"Nope, just really needed this right about now. It's so hot outside that I've been looking forward to this drink all day." He took another drink and smiled at her.

Just then a song that he knew she liked started playing on the juke box. He stood up and took her hand. "Come on, I've got just the medicine for your bad day." He said as he led her to the dance floor.

_Don't pretend you're sorry _

_I know you're not _

_You know you got the power _

_To make me weak inside _

_Girl you leave me breathless _

_But it's okay 'cause _

_You are my survival _

_Now hear me say _

_I can't imagine life _

_Without your love _

_Even forever don't seem _

_Like long enough _

Jess sighed as she laid her head on his shoulder. They danced close, moving as one, as he started to sing softly to her. Jess didn't know that he could sing, let alone dance so well.

_'Cause everytime I breathe _

_I take you in _

_And my heart beats again _

_Baby I can't help it _

_You keep me _

_Drowning in your love _

_Everytime I try to rise above _

_I'm swept away by love _

_Baby I can't help it _

_You keep me _

_Drowning in your love _

Jess could feel the stress of the day slowly melting away. This man was always surprising her in some way. He could make her feel good just by a look or that smile of his. She was afraid that she was falling hard for him.

_Maybe I'm a drifter _

_Late at night _

_'Cause I long for the safety _

_Of flowing freely _

_In your arms _

_I don't need another life line _

_It's not for me _

_'Cause only you can save me _

_Oh can't you see _

_I can't imagine life _

_Without your love _

_And even forever don't seem _

_Like long enough _

As he sang the last verse to her, she looked deep into her eyes and she felt like he was singing the words just to her, and that he meant every word he was singing. She was afraid to hope too much.

_'Cause everytime I breathe _

_I take you in _

_And my heart beats again _

_Baby I can't help it _

_You keep me _

_Drowning in your love _

_Everytime I try to rise above _

_I'm swept away by love _

_Baby I can't help it _

_You keep me _

_Drowning in your love _

Now they were dancing forehead to forehead, looking into each others eyes. Jess's eyes were filling up with tears as he continued to sing to her. It was like they were the only two people in the room, and Jess was so lost in his eyes.

_Go on and pull me under _

_Cover me with dreams, yeah _

_Love me mouth to mouth now _

_You know I can't resist _

_'Cause you're the air _

_That I breathe _

They were still swaying together, and Jess wrapped her arms around him, holding him close as he sang to her. Jess wondered just when things changed between them. She knew that they flirted a lot, even more since becoming partners, but this dance and his singing went way beyond friendship.

_Everytime I breathe _

_I take you in _

_And my heart beats again _

_Baby I can't help it _

_You keep me _

_Drowning in your love _

_Everytime I try to rise above _

_I'm swept away by love _

_And baby I can't help it _

_You keep me _

_Drowning your love _

Don dipped Jess as he sang the last verse and she squealed and held onto him tighter. When he lifted her back up, he wrapped his arms around her like she had her arms around him.

_Baby I can't help it _

_Keep me drowning _

_In your love _

_I keep drowning _

_In your love _

_Baby I can't help it _

_Can't help it no, no _

Jess moved one of her arms away from around Don's waist and cupped his cheek with the hand. Her smile couldn't get bigger, and her eyes couldn't get any wetter than they were at the moment. She loved this song and she loved this man. He was everything she wanted in the man of her dreams, and his singing to her made this moment perfect.

_'Cause everytime I breathe _

_I take you in _

_And my heart beats again _

_Baby I can't help it _

_You keep me _

_Drowning in your love _

_Everytime I try to rise above _

_I'm swept away by love _

_Baby I can't help it _

_You keep me _

_Drowning in your love _

As Don finished the song, they stopped dancing, but didn't move other than that. They stared into each others eyes and he finally spoke. "What do you think about that Jess? I knew you loved the song, and I wanted to do something special for you cause you were having a bad day." He asked her.

Jess couldn't speak because she was so emotional. "No one has ever done anything like that for me before. That was so sweet Don, I don't know what to say." She said as she cupped his face again. "Thank you so very much for the most perfect dance ever."

Don smiled at her. "You're welcome, and thank you for our first dance." He replied.

Jess realized that he was right, this was their first dance. They had just had their first dance, that meant there would be more dances then. She wondered where that left them. What were they now? Were they still friends, or more than friends?

They still hadn't moved off of the dance floor and Jess noticed that they were starting to get stares from the rest of the bar. "Maybe we had better go and sit down, we're drawing a crowd." She told him.

"I don't care, there's one more thing I have been wanting to do since that night outside of Sam's AA meeting." He said and before she could think, he kissed her.

Jess's brain went into overdrive and she couldn't think of anything except for his lips touching hers. She returned his kiss, pulling on his suit jacket so that he didn't pull back just yet. When they did pull apart, Jess had a dopey grin on her face. "I'm glad that you finally did that, again. I've been wanting to do that too, I just didn't know if you did."

Don smiled at her and led her back over to the table. "I did and still do. I just didn't want to push you if you weren't ready to move forward into a relationship with me. But, now that we've got this far, how would you like to be labeled as my girlfriend?" He asked her, nervously.

Jess smiled and took his hand, looking into his eyes again, getting lost in them as usual. Clearing her throat, she finally put his mind to rest. "I'd love to be your girlfriend, but I don't do labels, I hate them." She said as she leaned over and kissed him.

He kissed her back. "Okay, no labels, but you'll still be my girlfriend, right?" He asked again.

"After you sang to me and we shared our first dance? You better believe I'll be your girlfriend. Now the question is, do we tell anyone?" She wondered aloud.

"No, I think this should just be between us right now, it's new and I'm not ready to share you with the rest of our friends just yet, if that's okay with you." He told her.

She smiled again. "Okay, then it's just us right now. Oh and Don, thanks so much for the song and dance." She told him, kissing him again, this time longer and deeper.

The End

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Cassie, I hope that you love your birthday present and I hope this met your challenge.

Feedback would be appreciated, but Cassie's will mean the most since I wrote this for her.


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